Emerald
by CeliaBlair24
Summary: Cinder is dead and they're on the run. AU Set after the Fall of Beacon. ONESHOT


By the law of nature, winter quickly follows the heels of autumn, undeterred by the destruction and chaos of its predecessor.

Snow clumps by the sides of old, crumbling streets, days old yet untouched. The small town they'd stopped in had been deserted long years before- they were alone.

The winds, cold and biting, eddy around her like waves of the cold northern oceans. Shuddering, Emerald draws her thin overcoat closer to herself.

After having fled from Vale, Emerald had little more than the small morsels she'd had on her person at the time. Disregarding the little trinkets she'd procured from the kind strangers in the occasional town, it wasn't much.

"See anywhere good?"

Emerald asks, bluing lip tucked under chattering teeth as a gust of air pushes through the crooked twists and turns of the narrow street-ways.

"No,"

Her companion replies, voice dull and void of its usual cocky arrogance. And perhaps that should've been a good thing, Emerald knew she'd have been happy for this change not so long ago. But the seasons turn over quickly, and Emerald finds that this does not amuse her or appease any of the worry she feels festering within.

And Mercury talks again, voice a quiet puff of resignation.

"I'll go find firewood"

Emerald doesn't stop him, not even when he stumbles on his way through the heaping snow. Instead, she watches on, red eyes haunted by the image painted in front of her.

She wonders when it was exactly, that she had started to hate the silence.

 ** _沈黙_**

They sit by dying embers under the roof of a dilapidated building.

Winter brings with it storms, and in those storms, the wind cries out, whipping and slashing like blades wielded solely to massacre. Emerald dares not look out in fear of them. The snow pelts heavily- like ice, covering destruction and hope alike in its treacherous white grasps. It makes Emerald wonder if it would ever stop.

The night drags on quietly save for the storm raging outside barred doors and windows. Mercury remains silent.

"Where do we go now?"

Her words hang in the air, but Mercury refuses to answer. His wandering orbs are everywhere and nowhere at once, far off, in a past long since slipped from their hold.

She risks a chance and meets him by the eye, attempting to drag him back to reality. Gray clashes against red then, and though she struggles, she could already feel a dampness staining her frostbitten cheeks.

Mercury is the first to look away, breaking their gaze. He doesn't answer her question, nor does he say anything else the rest of that night.

Emerald doesn't oppose this. Inside, she already knows why.

 ** _動く_**

They stay hidden in the town for a few more days. Though the storm had been quick to calm, they both needed more time to catch their breath; gather their bearings.

"Kibō,"

Mercury murmurs quietly over his broth. Emerald snaps to attention, eyes wide in response to the increasingly unfamiliar voice. Its rough this time, gritted out through clenched teeth. Emerald wonders if perhaps its due to more than just the cold.

"A town, 10 miles southwest of here..."

Emerald digs through her small knapsack, unfurling the map she'd placed in.

"But... That's going off path,"

Mercury's eyes narrow, but he doesn't say anything else. Instead, he watches, lips pulled back into a small frown.

It was a signal, one Emerald wished she'd never noticed.

"But Cinde-"

"Is dead. We've gotta- We've gotta do something else, we've gotta move on. We can't just keep following her, Emerald"

The clouds part for just a moment then, letting small strips of sunlight slink into the shadows curling the edges of their small shelter. Mercury doesn't add on, and though Emerald wants so badly to disagree, she doesn't.

They leave later the next morning.

 ** _友人_**

The town is quiet when they arrive.

The streets are desolate, the elements allowed to wash over, to stain the buildings with streaks of white and smoky gray. But the town looks well cared for enough, the houses and buildings hosts to small candlelights sticking out through the foil of the late nights darkness.

A man hobbles onward.

Emerald frowns, foot out, prepared to take a step towards him. Before she could, however, Mercury pulls her back.

"What?"

She growls, shrugging off the hand wrapped around her arm. Mercury points ahead, his lips sealed shut as another figure comes slinking out of the shadows.

He has curled red hair reaching the base of his neck, and light gray clothes resembling those of a typical Atlesian specialist. Emeralds eyes widen.

"Have you seen these two?"

The mans scroll lights up, and in the dark of that moonless night, the faint light of the hologram shows to the hobbling man an image of Mercury and herself.

"No, sir-ee,"

The man shuts his scroll, not questioning further.

"Thank you for your time"

He says stiffly before walking away, back into the caress of the shadows lining the walls, the zigzagging streets.

Emeralds heart turns cold.

"Mercury,"

He takes her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. When Emerald looks up at him, however, his eyes are elsewhere.

"Be careful,"

But there's a certain warmth to his words that thaws at her heart and, Emerald remembers this warmth when she pictures their safety, their faces hidden by hoods, by the intricacies of her semblances design.

It makes her smile.

 ** _緑_**

They stick around town longer than was perhaps safe. The coldness of winter had hit new heights, keeping them chained to what little warmth they could find.

Emerald lights up a lamp, the darkness brushed away by cool green warmth.

 _'They painted the glass with acrylic,'_ Cinder had told them once, taking out the glass lamp. _'The lamps fire is dulled, perfect for hiding'._

She remembers Mercury having scrunched up his nose, asking why she'd chosen green. Sometimes, Emerald allowed herself to believe that Cinder had been looking at her when she'd replied.

 _'I find it pretty'._

"Swept the floors, Em? You know, we aren't staying here long"

But there's no malice in Mercury's words, no force. Emerald smiles despite herself.

"If we're gonna be sticking around here for the next few days, might as well make it comfortable. Besides... What else is there to do?"

Mercury waves a hand, ending the conversation with a rare smirk.

"You missed a spot,"

Emerald frowns, brows knitted as she makes her way over to the stone furnace. Much like the rest of the small hut, it was crumbling from disuse. The stones black and brittle, she wondered if cleaning it would even make any difference.

"Slow,"

Mercury grunts, prying her fingers off the broom. He looked funny, Emerald thinks, hunched over and pouting as he was.

"You know, if you don't want to do it, you can just leave me to it"

He doesn't look up, his eyes focused on the ash dusting the rough floors.

"Just let me,"

He stops, gray eyes focused on the dirtied floors and soot dusted furnace. There's a quiver to his voice, low and rough and painful to her ears. And maybe, she thinks, he's just as lost as she was.

"Okay"

 ** _失われた_**

Mercury leaves the following night to scout the area. There's been chatter lately, rumors spread across the streets by the mouths and ears of deployed Atlesian specialists.

 _"He's here, him and some kids-"_

 _"- looking for some runts"_

 _"I heard he's angry"_

The night is slow, excruciatingly so. The slight wind creaks the roofs dilapidating braces, the snow heavy atop thin metal. Mercury doesn't reappear.

"Where are you?"

She whispers into the night, fingers laced as she gazes up at the stars dotting the skies, the broken moon. Hoping, praying, trying to allow herself to believe it was all going to be okay.

The night drags on further, darkness bleeding into the reds and oranges of dusk.

Mercury remains unseen, familiar gray replaced by the quiet emptiness of a dark room.

Eyes cast down, Emerald finds it hard to shed a tear. Perhaps she'd always known this would happen, perhaps she'd only been waiting.

The crunch of snow under boots rings loud in the quietness of the morning. Thundering in her ears, a battalion fighting in unison, and she understands.

 ** _"Emerald Sustrai, we have you surrounded. Come out peacefully or you will be met by force"_**

 ** _さまよう_**

She's on the run, alone in Anima's lush wilderness. The forest stretches on for miles, lands eaten up by towering trees, and rocks from the mountainous surroundings.

Mercury had disappeared weeks ago, not a trace left of him. She reckons he'd been caught by the Atlesians, Ironwoods underlings milling the town streets. Knowing him, he'd fought to escape their barred walls, their jail-cells. Knowing him, he'd fought for the freedom that was rightfully his.

She reckons he's dead because of it.

Branches snap under weak steps, her body shaking from the chilling breeze. Spring was on the horizon, yes, she'd caught the whiff of it circulating the frosted trees. But the coldness of winter was hard to erase, the harsh bitterness leaving on remnant its stale aftertaste.

Emerald continues onwards.

She doesn't make it so far, she can barely keep upright. A tree, tall and towering, branches spread wide as its trunk, becomes her new home. It isn't perfect, far from it, but its all she can manage on her own.

Emerald looses count over the following weeks, just how long she'd been drifting on her own. Her memories of those days blur into the dark nights, both equally long and terrifying. Soon, she finds she can't really differentiate the shattered moon from the sun hidden beneath dark clouds.

"Where are you?"

She whispers to silent trees, the breeze that warms with each passing day. She doesn't get much of an answer, nature stays quiet to her calls. Like Mercury had been... Time continues on, unstopping in its haste.

Emerald wonders if time ever did care about those stuck in their pasts, those stuck reliving their pain and heartache. It's hard for her, truly. She wonders if time would pity her.

Alone, she finds something to do. Something to ease her heartache, to occupy her mind from the pain threatening to overtake her.

Digging through her satchel, her fingers brush over a fragile thinness. Wrapping her fingers around it, she takes it out.

A map unfurls, paper a brittle tan colour. Uncared for, left unused by its dead owner. The paper crumbles in calloused hands.

And Emerald looks down at the scattering dust, her eyes watering. The paper was much like her memories, really. Old and brittle, untouched and thus, so very fragile.

And it is hard, so very hard.

Perhaps, she thinks, this is for the better. Less pain, less heartache. And if her memories did scatter, what would be so bad about that?

She wouldn't have to remember why, or how or when. She could only know now, and now was safe. Now was good. Now was kinder to her, a loving caress within the depths of her personal abyss.

She didn't have to remember.

Try as she might however, it was hard to forget.

 ** _剣士_**

Bone white claws dig into the dirt and grime of the forest floors, crimson red eyes glinting from behind thick foliage, malicious and deadly. Emerald watches as it shifts and growls, it's masked snout raised.

"Where are you going?"

Her voice scratches the air, burns through the thin coolness in its feverish haze.

The beast growls in response, the thick of springs bearings crushed under its weight as it prowls through, heading towards her.

And Emerald watches, unmoving.

The beasts had been rampant lately, crawling through the forest in large herds of black murkiness, evil made sentient. Emerald thinks this is because there are so many other people out there that are just like her. People that'd lost their love ones , their livelihoods, their everything by Autumns end.

People that are suffering because of it.

"Planning to kill me too?"

Emerald asks, turning away. She eyes the sky instead, eyes the reddened clouds and orange streaks , the bright yellow of the sun as it settles beneath the trees.

The beast roars.

And she smiles, small and peculiar. It will only be a matter of time now, she could finally have the end she so desperately craves . No more having to pretend. No more having to forget or to endure this pain.

And it lifts its paw, bone white claws glinting like silver- a three pronged fork in the last rays of daylight.

"Come,"

She whispers, eyes wide, anticipating.

But the blow never hits, not for the longest time.

Slowly, Emerald turns around, eyes narrowed- prepared for anything. And it's then that she sees it.

A flurry of red, tattered cloth fluttering in the wind. She hears the clash of steel against thick claws, ivory splintering under its force. And vaguely, she thinks, she could recognise it all.

The man is familiar, his narrowed red eyes a picture in the lost collage of her memories. He holds his sword high above his head, his teeth clenching as he pushes against the beast.

"You! What are you, Crazy?!"

He bites out, words like toxic steaming through the air. And he faces her, head over his shoulder; his lips curled into an ugly scowl.

And she remembers that scowl, she remembers it like the day smoldering amber orbs first glowed a florescent gold. He'd worn that scowl on that day too, hand tight around his sword, fighting them all off.

"I'm your enemy,"

She rasps, pushing herself up with weak arms. A bullet sizzles through the air, fired from the weapon he held.

"No, you're just a kid."

Dark flakes scatter then, the winds blowing them into the dark of twilight. It makes her heart clench, hopeless and lost.

"Let me die"

She whispers the words like a prayer, a request to some ancient God watching over her. But the man before her doesn't concede, sheathing his sword instead.

"You're just a kid"

The man repeats, the frown on his lips shown prominently. He eyes her then, red orbs glistening through the shade of the coming night. He looked troubled by her. She wondered why.

"Merc used to frown like that, too"

Emerald tells him, her eyes glazed. She props herself up on the trunk of her home tree, lip tucked between clenched teeth.

"Merc?"

The man asks, kneeling down in front of her. He has a grace to the way he does so, one attained only by years of training- the fruit of hard work. Slowly, he reaches out to her, attempts to take her hand in his. She smiles, crooked and pained, dark eyes focused on the dirt covered scratches lining her palms.

"He's dead"

And the man stops short, sputtering at her words.

"I-I'm sorry for your loss"

Emerald knew she had been hanging by a mere thread, she knew she walked the thin line bordering her sanity. She guessed it was at that moment that she'd finally snapped.

"Sure"

 ** _着火する_**

There's a fire in the distance, the smoke curls through the air in gray streams. The man holds her with his eyes, and though his hands are tucked into his pockets, Emerald knows she would be unable to escape him should she try.

"The kids are friendly enough, so don't worry"

The man- Qrow says. His voice is deep, raspy and perhaps, she thinks, also somewhat slurred. He stumbles a bit, foot caught by a few scattered rocks, and maybe he would've fallen too, had she not caught him.

"Thanks,"

He grunts, but she's facing the trees instead. Facing the dull light shining through the thick foliage separating them both from the clearing.

"How many?"

She asks, stopping just a few steps short of an opening between the trees.

"The kids? Just four of 'em, though, I guess the rest aren't here yet"

He brushes past her, peeking at the campsite from behind the tall standing trunks. There's a girl sitting there, her back facing them. She was manning the fire , and Emerald thinks, she recognises this girl too.

"Rendezvous"

He mutters in way of explanation, quickly making his way up to the girl. And then she turns.

"Uncle Qrow!"

She has silver orbs, glittering under the light of the shattered moon. She looked curious, innocent too. Emerald wonders if the girl would remember her.

"You're here! I was so worried, Jaune went out to check for you a-"

But then she turns, following the slivering threads of the full moon. Her silver orbs meet Emeralds dark red, clashing like oil against water, a white burning fire searing through cloth and skin.

"...Emerald?"

Her voice tinkers like a little bell in the wind, its low and light and hesitant. It makes Emerald frown.

"She'll be staying with us,"

Qrow says, making his way over to the Rose. He ruffles her hair, giving her a bright smile that reaches right up to his eyes. But Ruby doesn't notice this, no, she looks at Emerald instead.

"I... You're here"

She whispers, her voice stinging the air in thin strips. And her bright eyes looked like thundering clouds then, the unused coal that lay beside the hearth.

"You."

Emerald says simply, taking a long step back. Then another. And suddenly the fire didn't look so warm, and suddenly she really did not want to be here anymore. Suddenly, all too suddenly, she felt she cared far too much.

"E-Emerald,"

And Ruby reaches out for her, tries to keep her just standing there, staying with them.

Emerald trips, her leg caught against the root of a nearby tree. She lands on her back, teary eyes facing the endless skies as the Rose calls her name.

"Please, don't go!"

And she hears the clap of boots against the dirt path, the pebbles sent flying, the leaves left drifting in the air.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby asks, placing her hand on Emeralds shoulder. Her hand was warm, much like her eyes, her words.

"She's dead"

And it was as if Emerald had struck her, Ruby releases her hold almost instantly.

"I- Emerald,"

Emerald brushes her off, instead pushing herself up against the trees trunk. Ruby stares at the ground, tracing with her eyes the little twigs, the stones and fallen leaves. But not her, not Emerald. Emerald watches her, heart catching fire. Its in a sprint, just about ready to burst.

"I'm so sorry!"

Ruby cries out, her hands wrapped around clumpy strings of grass, coated in dirt. And she pulls, tears pouring in rivulets down her cheeks, onto the soil.

She looks up.

"I didn't mean to,"

Emerald wonders if Ruby notices it, how Emerald could see right through her. Through the innocent facade, through the forced kindness. She grits her teeth, eyes blaring at her through the forming tears.

"You didn't mean to..."

She repeats, and laughs. Its sharp and fake, painful to the ears. Qrow calls out from behind them, desperate, pleading.

"Ruby, get back!"

And the wind picks up, surging through the trees in visible streams. The campfire blows out.

"You didn't mean to **_kill_** her!"

Ruby screams, Qrow taking her forcefully by the arm. The clouds block out the moon then, cover the glimmering stars. Emeralds laughs turn shrill.

"Maiden"

Qrow breaths, unsheathing his sword. Ruby follows suite, hesitant, tears in her eyes. Red steel glints through the darkness of the clearing, her scythe unveiled.

But metal against the elements is failure bound. As the storm sets and the winds surge, they realise this, yet there is nothing else they could do to fend themselves.

Emerald watches on, eyes a blazing red as the elements swarm to fulfill her bidding.

Revenge calls her name, guides her hand, and she allows it. Because it is in silver orbs that she sees a flower wilting, petals once a fiery amber.

Because it is in silver orbs that she sees death.

 ** _終わり_**


End file.
